Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Even though I don't like clutter, I'm also a secret horder of two things. One is cardboard. (Happy sigh.) The other is Chuck's artwork.... which is a growing problem because we keep painting and I never know what to do with the art that I like. I hang some up in his room. I turn other pieces into new artwork. I also use some for cards and stationary (see here , here, and here for some of my favorites) Goodness, I even turned one into a magnetic fishing game! Well recently I began turning his artwork into lovely little handmade notebooks.

Watercolor and Crayon Resist Notebooks

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These were made from from some old watercolor and crayon resist artwork... and I love them. They're personal, lovely, and practical. I use them to jot down all my bloggy and crafty ideas throughout the day. And oh yeah, they're super easy to make too! So let's get crafting!

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

I am a sucker for kids watercolor art and crafts. They're colorful, easy to set up, easy to clean up, and give us such bright and happy results. (Plus, who doesn't love watching colors blend with one another? It's pure magic.) Today I'm pulling out another watercolor craft that will look just beautiful decorating your home this summer. Tada! We're painting some paper lanterns!

Monday, October 28, 2013

While perusing the craft store for costume materials the other day, I saw some "paint with water" books. As a kid I loved those things. You pay a buck or two and then you got sheets and sheets of coloring pages with "paint pans" printed on the bottom of the page. It always blew my mind that I just needed a wet Q-tip to paint!

So of course, that's when a light bulb went off in my mind. Ding! Sure, I could pay a could pay a couple of bucks, buy a book, and then relive some childhood memories. But I figured I'd have even more fun putting on my DIY hat and making my own "paint with water" pages.

So, tada! Here are my DIY "paint with water" pages. Not going to lie, the store bought ones are certainly cheaper. But, these ones are pretty groovy because they're customizable and sure to delight both the maker and the user.

Ready to make your own? Let's get started!Materials:

Watercolor paper

Scissors

Sharpie marker

Watercolor pencils

Pencil sharpener

Watercolor tubes

Directions:

1. Cut your watercolor paper into quarters. Use your Sharpie marker to draw four rectangles on the bottom of your sheet. These will hold your "paint" colors. Then, use your Sharpie marker to doodle your images onto the paper. (Or, you could leave the page blank too.)

2. Pull out your watercolor pencils. Color the rectangles in with different colors. For the best results, press hard and choose darker colors.

And that's it! You now have blank canvases for artwork, coloring sheets, or fun activity sheets. (Come on, who doesn't love adding makeup to doodled faces?)

Or, you could turn the pages into fun cards or postcards. Who wouldn't love receiving a super cute card that doubles as an outlet for creativity?

To color in your pages, simply take a Q-tip (or paint brush), dip it in water, and then dip it into your "paint pans." Voila. Instant watercolor paint!

Don't have watercolor pencils? No sweat. You could also do the same thing with watercolor tubes. (This idea was inspired by Creative With Kids.) For these "paint with water" pages:

Cut your watercolor pages in half instead of quarters to give yourself more room to paint

Place tiny drops of paint on one side of your watercolor sheet

Let the paint dry for a couple of hours

Doodle a design with Sharpie if desired

Once again, you've got your very own portable palette of paint! (These pages are a bit fancier than the previous ones because they hold more paint.)

Once again, all you need now is a paintbrush (or in my case, a Q-tip) to make instant artwork.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

I recently purchased a box of Liquid Watercolors(affiliate link)to try out. I'd seen so many beautiful projects by other fellow Rockin' Art Momsthat we just had to try them out too.

And guess what? These paints totally lived up to the hype.

Here's why liquid watercolor rock- The colors are beautiful and vibrant. These watercolor paints are also SO MUCH EASIER to use than the typical pan watercolors. My preschooler doesn't typically enjoy painting with me because he struggles with getting enough color on his paint brush. I think he really enjoyed today's project because it was easy and the colors came out looking fabulous!

So here's our first liquid watercolor project- Tada! We used our liquid watercolors to dye some wooden beads and peg dolls to make these lovely, family necklaces!

Let's Make Colorful Watercolor-Dyed Peg Doll Necklaces!

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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Do you ever feel like life is moving at a super fast speed and you are just being pulled along for a ride? That's what I've felt these past two weeks. We battled an illness, hosted a good friend for a couple of days, and celebrated my sister's graduation. Oh yeah. We've also been preparing for our move to California later this summer. Ahhh! (More on that later.) So today's kid-made crayon and watercolor frame was actually made quite a few weeks ago. I'm excited to finally be posting it today. I love how easy the it was to make and how lovely it turned out. (This would definitely be a great kid-made Father's Day gift!) But, I can't take full credit for the idea. I originally spotted the idea on fellow Rockin' Art Mom Twodaloo's Crayon Resist Photo Display post. And she was originally inspired by Artful Parent's Melted Crayon on Wooden Blocks post. (These two ladies are super creative, so definitely check their blogs out!)

Friday, January 22, 2016

I've recently been looking into making more Chinese New Year crafts together as a way to celebrate the upcoming holiday. With my current infatuation with watercolor crafts, we recently made these watercolor painted paper fans together.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Lately Chuck and I have been infatuated with things that fly. That's why we made our cardboard space shuttle a couple of days ago. So today I took things one step further to create a handmade toy that actually did fly. Modeled after a plastic toy that hubby brought back from one of his trips, here's our version of a DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy.

DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy

It's pretty neat that the toy actually does fly. You simply spin it between both hands and the copter flies out and floats to the ground. Keep reading to see how we made it (and a video of it flying!)

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

I'm always a bit nervous about transitions in life. And having a new baby has certainly been a humongous transition for our whole family. Diapers, giggles, crying, baby snuggles... we're still trying to find our new groove as a family of four. So I came up with this hand print art project to do with my eldest son. Despite all the crazy chaos that this stage of life brings, I still wanted to celebrate our family.

Family Watercolor Hand Print Art

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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

As a kid, I loved the idea of being a detective or a secret spy. They got to wear cool clothes, go on adventures, and solve mysteries. A couple of weeks ago I tried playing a detective game with Chuck. I hid his favorite stuffed pig and then left 5 clues for him to follow. The clues were all written as secret messages. We had to do something to the paper to revel the hidden words.

5 Ways to Write Secret Messages

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Chuck was onboard with the game. We've recently been gobbling up Nate the Great books from the library, so he really enjoyed being a detective and solving the case.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Our epic move still looms overhead. The movers are coming next week and then we fly off to California a week after that. I keep trying to explain what's happening to Chuck, but I'm not sure he gets it yet. So I came up with this easy craft and activity to help him out. It's a DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Activity where you move different types of transportation across county using magnets!

DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Game

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Chuck really enjoyed helping me to color in the map and different types of transportation using watercolors. He also REALLY enjoyed moving everything around using magnets. It was a bit of trial and error to put this toy together, but at the end we came up with a craft that's easy to make, fun to use, and *hopefully* helpful for Chuck.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

A few weeks ago, we invited a few school friends over for a play date. Since having a baby less than a year ago, I've been a bit (ok... let's be honest... VERY) nervous about having people over. I'm always pooped and don't really feel like entertaining. (Ever feel that way too?) But, I pushed myself to try and that's how I found myself with 5 kids running around our fairly small home. The kids played with toys and ran around outside... and surprisingly a lot of time was spent inside, painting and making art.

What?

You read that right, friends. Our teacher's birthday was coming up and I invited the children to help me paint her birthday banner. Once the kids saw the papers and art supplies on our table... they got right to work, creating the beautiful birthday letters below.

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Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Looking for a fun Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Craftto do with the kids? How about this sugar skull process art activity? Different, everyday materials are combined to create a piece of unique and lovely artwork!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Today we're continuing with the theme of easy fall crafts. Couple of days ago I shared this really beautiful Sewn Leaf Art project that I made with my preschooler. Today I just wanted to share this gorgeous folded paper leaf banner.

I came up with the idea after reading some fall-themed books with my son. Seeing all the beautiful colored leaves in the books made me miss the fall leaves back on the East coast. And then it hit me- why not make our own? Bring a bit of fall to our forever-summer state. And so, my son and I got to making and painting together. The results came out so beautiful that he insisted we hang the banner up in his room to spruce it up.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Why not set up a monster-making factory in
your dining room? Yup. This fun art and craft activity is a great
way for kids to be creative and gear up for the upcoming
holidays. (Hooray Halloween! Woo-hoo!)

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Living in Southern California, I have a tough time appreciating seasons. I mean, we’re still in the 70s-80s here. The leaves are green…. I'm still wearing shorts and sandals. It just doesn’t quite feel like fall. So this monster-making activity really helped us get into the fall spirit.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Now that our moving date looms just overhead, we're trying our best to hang out with relatives and friends before we leave. Last week we had an epic craft/play date with cousins. It was a TON of fun! Chuck loved playing cars with his older cousin and I had a blast crafting with my niece. She recently received a bunch of nail polishes for her birthday, so I thought it would be an excellent time to try marbling paper with nail polish!

How to Marble With Nail Polish

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Um. Yeah. Aren't the results AMAZING? And they're made just using nail polish and water! We had fun choosing colors, swirling them around, and creating these lovely, colorful works of gorgeous art. Wanna see how we made them? Keep on reading!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Are you looking for a paint that's super pigmented and remains glossy looking when it's dry? Well then this corn syrup paint is for you. Chuck and I whipped up a batch of this glossy paint the other day in our kitchen. Then we had loads of fun trying it out. The paint is edible (although you probably don't want to eat it), has a consistency thicker than regular paint, and looks like shiny enamel when it dries. Intrigued? Check out the results!

Make Glossy Corn Syrup Paint

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Oooooh. Pretty. So far we've made homemade sidewalk paint, homemade watercolor paints, and cornstarch toddler paint ... but none of those stand up to the gorgeous results of this homemade corn syrup paint. The bright colors and gloss are fabulous. (Yes. I used the f-word.) And ready for the best thing? You could probably whip up a batch of this stuff tonight with ingredients and materials already found at home. Let's get painting!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Happy Earth Day everyone! How's the weather where you are? It's slowly getting warmer and sunnier over here, so Chuck and I have been taking nature walks around our neighborhood. I was surprised to see so many tiny flowers blooming. (Nature is so resilient, isn't she?) Chuck really loved seeing the colorful blossoms too. We ended up picking quite a few and bringing them back to do some flower pounding.

How to do Flower Pounding With Kids

This craft basically involves hitting flowers (or grass or leaves) with a hammer or rock to release their pigment. As you can probably guess, it was a big hit with the little guy. (Sorry downstairs neighbors!) Keep reading to see how we pounded our flowers!

Monday, April 14, 2014

It's Monday and we've finally started returning to our normal sleep schedules. (Yes!) And now that we're back and settled in, I realized that Easter is right around the corner. Yikes. Is it April already? It totally snuck up on me this year. So here's my first semi-Easter related tutorial: Sharpie Tie Dye Shirt

Wait, what does this shirt have to do with Easter? Well, kids seem to wear cute, colorful outfits on Easter. (See last year's DIY I heart Peeps Shirt.) A friend graciously donated a bunch of clothes to us and one of the items was a blank white shirt. It screamed "Paint me, paint me." And so Chuck and I used it to make this year's Easter shirt together. Keep reading to see how we made it!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Currently, one of Chuck's favorite books is 10 Little Fish by Audrey and Bruce Wood. It's a cute book about subtraction. Kids count colorful fish on each page as they leave one by one. And (my favorite part), it has a fishy romance at the end (What can I say? I'm a closet romantic... tee heee hee.) To accompany his love for fish, we recently made this DIY Magnetic Fishing Game.

DIY Magnetic Fishing Game

It's cute and colorful and really fun to make and easy to play. Want to make your own fishing game? Keep reading to see how we made ours!